Jessica "Jessie" Lauren Graff (born January 12, 1984) is a professional stunt woman and athletics-based television personality. Her nickname is "Tumbleweed". She is a black belt in Taekwondo, a black sash in Kung Fu, and is trained in five other styles of martial arts. She is also a championship pole vaulter and competitive gymnast. She has become well known for her athletic achievements on the obstacle course show American Ninja Warrior, including in 2016 becoming the first woman ever to complete Stage One of the Las Vegas Finals course and only the second woman to conquer the Stage 1 of the Sasuke franchise worldwide, after Chie Tanabe in SASUKE 2.
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Early life
Jessie Graff was born to Ginny MacColl on January 12, 1984.
At age 6, Graff started taking circus classes. She started doing gymnastics at age 9 and did competitive gymnastics for 6 years. She was a member of the Frederick Gymnastic Club for 6 years. By age 12 she was catching other performers on the trapeze. She has stated about her time as a 12-year-old trapeze artist, "The rule was I wasn't allowed to catch anyone who outweighed me by more than 20 pounds."
Graff was a pole vaulter in high school, and graduated in 2002 from Urbana High School, Frederick, Maryland, as a Track Team Leader, honor roll student, and member of National Honor Society.
She majored in aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech, and theatre at the University of Nebraska. She graduated from University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) in 2007.
She has earned black belts in Taekwondo and Kung Fu.
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Collegiate sports career
Graff is 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) tall. In 2004, she set her personal best (PB) in the 5000m run at 15:56.30; she set her outdoor pole vault PB at 4.17 m (13 ft 8 in); and indoor pole vault PB at 4.20 m (13 ft 9 in). Graff held the pole vault record at Georgia Tech and University of Nebraska.
Stuntwoman career
Graff started doing stunt work in 1997, and has appeared in several television shows and movies, including X-Men: First Class, Make It or Break It, Another Period, Bridesmaids, Knight and Day, Bad Teacher, John Carter, and Sons of Anarchy.
As a stuntwoman she has done tumbling on Make It or Break It, trampolined on Another Period and has done many stunts on rooftops, the sides of bridges or buildings and dramatic wipeouts. She has said she continues to learn new skills from other stunt people who specialize in different areas.
She has stated that Jackie Chan became her hero after seeing the musical fight scene in Shanghai Noon.
As of 2016 her most recent high-profile stunt work has been for the CBS/CW series Supergirl.
Obstacle competitor career
Graff was a contestant on the comically-oriented obstacle course show Wipeout's tenth episode of its first season in 2008, with the commentator appellation "Stuntwoman". In that appearance, she finished second in the qualifier round (successfully navigating most of it, including a traversal of Big Balls), second again on the next round, but fell in the penultimate round and thus did not make it to the Wipeout Zone.
On season 5 (2013) of American Ninja Warrior (ANW), she became the first woman to qualify to compete in a City Finals course (although she did not complete the qualifier course).
In season 6 (2014) of American Ninja Warrior she could not compete due to an injury. She had torn her ACL, TCL and meniscus. While healing Graff changed her focus and spent eight months working primarily on pull-ups and grip strength. At this point, she could only do three pull-ups in a row, though she could complete 30 pull-ups by season 8.
In the season 7 (2015) of American Ninja Warrior she appeared at Stage One in Las Vegas and got past the first few obstacles, but could not quite make it up Stage One's more difficult warped wall. She resolved during the off-season to build up her leg strength so that would overcome that obstacle next time around.
In season 8 (2016) of American Ninja Warrior, in the Los Angeles qualifying round, she became the first woman in American Ninja Warrior history to make it up the new 14 1/2-foot Warped Wall and moved on to the city finals along with professional rock climber Natalie Duran. This was the first time two women made it into the Top 30. In the Los Angeles city finals, Graff did not complete the course but finished second overall based on the show's "the farthest the fastest" metric. This broke her own record for the highest finish by a woman in a city competition though 2016. Kacy Catanzaro remains the only woman to complete a city finals course, although her overall placement that night was less than Graff's mark.
Of her public renown, she has said on her website:
I have spent the last ten years behind the scenes working as a stunt woman. Recently I have gotten some face time which I have strived to use for breaking gender stereotypes, and becoming a positive female role model. Being feminine shouldn't mean you can't be athletic, strong and confident. Healthy is attractive!
At the season 8 national finals at Mt. Midoriyama, finishing fourth overall, with only eight athletes out of forty-five able to finish at all in Week 1's set of Stage 1 competitors. She had 12.39 seconds to spare out of a 2:20 minute time limit and was also the first woman to ever ascend the Warped Wall on Stage 1 in Las Vegas, which has a shorter run-up than the regular one. During the run she wore a two-piece custom-made Green Lantern costume, and had drawn a Green Lantern ring with marker on her finger. A stop-motion LEGO video was released soon after her win, which was inspired by her performance in this race. Following the runs of the second week's group of Stage 1 competitors, Graff was in 5th place overall of 90 competitors, with only 17 of them able to finish and move on (a record low for the competition, indicating the difficulty of the course). On Stage 2, which proved difficult for all competitors and surrendered only two finishers, Graff staged a credible run, struggling a bit on the Giant Ring Swing, powering her way through the Down Up Salmon Ladder, but then fell off the Wave Runner when attempting the transition between its two boards, one of several athletes to go out in that manner.
Trivia
She has a pet pig named "Sammo Hog".
Competitions
- 2003 NCAA Championships indoor pole vault: 16th place -- 12 feet 5.5 inches (3.797 m) [with Georgia Tech]
- 2004 Big 12 Championships outdoor pole vault: 2nd place -- 13 feet 1.5 inches (4.001 m) [with UNL]
- 2004 NCAA Championships outdoor pole vault: 24th place -- 12 feet 3.5 inches (3.747 m) [with UNL]
- 2004 Big 12 Championships indoor pole vault: 4th place -- 13 feet 1.5 inches (4.001 m) [with UNL]
- 2004 NCAA Championships indoor pole vault: 11th place -- 12 feet 11.5 inches (3.950 m) [with UNL]
- 2008 Wipeout season 1
- 2013 American Ninja Warrior season 5 -- first woman to advance to a City Final
- 2015 American Ninja Warrior season 7 -- first woman to sit atop the leaderboard at a city finals; first woman to advance to the National Finals
- 2016 Team Ninja Warrior season 1 -- team captain of "G-Force"; only female captain
- 2016 American Ninja Warrior season 8 -- One of only two competitors to make it past "The Wedge" obstacle at the City Finals, leading to finishing second at the course and top woman; She became the first woman ever to finish the Stage 1 course at the Las Vegas national finals on ANW.
Filmography
Films
Television
Short films
Honors
- Spring 2002 All-Met pole vaulter
- Nebraska Indoor Pole Vault School Record Holder
- 2005 Academic All-Big 12 First Team
- Fall 2003 Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll
- Spring 2004 Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll
- Fall 2004 Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll
- Spring 2005 Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll
- 2004 NCAA Division I Track Coaches Association All-Academic Team
- First Woman ever to finish stage one on American Ninja Warrior finals in Las Vegas
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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